News, articles and information about Jewish art, architecture, and historic sites. This blog includes material to be posted on the website of the International Survey of Jewish Monuments (www.isjm.org).

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Slovakia: Update on Zilina Synagogue Restoration - You Can Help!

Jewish Heritage Europe reports on the progress for the restoration of the important modernist synagogue at Zilina, designed by German architect Peter Behrens. I wrote about this effort at length when the Jewish Community of Zilina first turned its thoughts to building restoration in 2009. At that time the Jewish Community had regained ownership of the building, which has been used for many years as a cinema and lecture hall, but was uncertain how to proceed with restoration - especially since funds were not available for the work, but meanwhile the building as it stood could provide a modest - but real - revenue stream.

In 2009, I wrote : "the best hope for the Behren's synagogue is to reach outside the normal (Jewish) funding circles and to involve groups dedicated to protecting and preserving the legacy of modernism." This is exactly what has happened (without any involvement by me.

Zilina, Slovakia. Synagogue as it appeared when built.

In 2011, the Jewish community arranged to lease the building for a symbolic sum to a group of architects and cultural activists of the NGO Truc sphérique which would oversee the restoration of the building and develop it as a cultural center focusing on contemporary art. Similar solutions have been used in other former synagogues in Slovakia, especially at Samorin and Trencin, both of which function as art centers. Neither of those projects, however, is as ambitious as at Zilina where plans are to return the modernist icon back to its original form. The chief architect for the project is Martin Jančok.
The total costs for the project are estimated a €1 million - one of the reasons the Jewish Community was reluctant to take on this task. The organizers have already raised and spent €100,000 in the first phases of work. Much of this has been raised online through social media and new fund-raising strategies.

This type of work shows that restoration projects - even when locally-based - can find a much larger audience of support. The fact that the project combines constituencies engaged in Jewish history, modern architecture and contemporary art is a big advantage as that swells the project audience and donor base and also reaches across nation, religious and generational lines. Truc sphérique is an artists' cooperative and has relied on volunteer labor for much of the work and has received in-kind contributions from local businesses to move the project forward.

Truc sphérique is non-governmental organization for contemporary arts and culture founded in 1998 in Zilina, and it has operated the building of Stanica since 2003 where it runs a gallery, workshop space, residency space for artists, cafe, waiting-room, and a multifunctional presentation venue for theater, dance, concerts, discussions and screenings. Stanica is member of various European networks, especially Trans Europe Halles.

In 2009 I wrote: "Today, most of the interior has been covered over with new walls, partitions and materials. Still, in the main hall – now used for films – one can see some of the original structure, though the dome is entirely obscured. It is hard to know what original elements are still hidden." Already in 2012 there has been great progress in removing later material additions to the building. Photos of the interior show the original domed ceiling and balconies, revealed for the first time in decades. According to the extensive and impressive project website which is reporting progress on a regular basis in reports and project Flickr streams, and also serves as collection point for money donations:

Our main reconstruction aim is to remove the architectonic interventions done during the communism era and bring back the building a look of the original Behrens’s architecture. The reconstruction began at the end of 2011 and will continue till end of 2014. We have been cooperating with the Regional Monuments Board in order to prepare the project documentation. [...]

Recently, the restoration project was presented the 2013 Bauwelt Advancement Award from the German architectural magazine Bauwelt ta ceremony in Munich in January, 2013

1 comment:

Sam, I'd like to help. I was an English teacher in Zilina in 1992 when the synagogue was a cinema. Jewish life was just beginning a tentative awakening in Slovakia at that time. The link to the funding site didn't seem to work. Thanks!

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Welcome

This blog provides news and opinion articles about Jewish art, architecture and historic sites - especially those where something new is happening. Developed in connection with news gathering for the International Survey of Jewish Monuments website (www.isjm.org), this blog highlights some of the most interesting Jewish sites around the world, and the most pressing issues affecting them.

About Me

Samuel D. GruberI am a cultural heritage consultant involved in a wide variety of
documentation, research, preservation, planning, publication, exhibition
and education projects in America and abroad.
I was trained as a medievalist, architectural historian and
archaeologist, but for 25 years my special expertise has developed in
Jewish art, architecture and historic sites. My various blogs about Jewish Art and Monuments, Central New York and Public Art and Memory allow me to
clear my email and my desk, and to report on some of my travels, by
passing on to a broader public just some of the interesting and
compelling information from projects I am working on, or am following.
Feel free to contact me for more information on any of the topics
posted, or if you have a project of your own you would like to discuss.

This illustrated lecture will discuss how during the period of Jewish emancipation in Europe during the 19th century, as Jews achieved more and more political freedom in Europe, Jewish artists re-invented Jewish art. They produced a body of work based on the Hebrew Bible, synagogue life, and the Jewish world in which they were raised. By the end of the 19th century, academically trained artists were also addressing Jewish social and political themes in their art as well as religious traditions. This lecture introduces the work of many often forgotten artists such as Moritz Daniel Oppenheim, Solomon Alexander Hart, Alphonse Levy, Edouard Brandon, Simeon Salomon and many others.

In the independent studios of the early 20th century many of these trends continued, though styles and subjects changed. Many Jewish artists actively engaged in and promoted new art styles including impressionism, Art Nouveau, cubism, fauvism, expressionism and constructivism – sometimes distancing themselves from all things Jewish, and sometimes building on Jewish themes. Well known Jewish Impressionists and Modernists included Camille Pissarro, Jozef Israëls, Max Libermann, Marc Chagall, and Amadeo Modigliani. Most of these Jewish painters- with the exception of Chagall – only occasional referenced Judaism in their art, though collectively they influenced how 20th century Jews viewed, understood and collected art.

In recognition of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of New York City’s Landmarks law and the Landmarks Preservation Board, architectural historian and preservationist I will trace the rich and varied architectural history of New York synagogues emphasizing remarkable buildings that have been lost, those that have been lovingly restored, and a significant number of noteworthy buildings that could and should be preserved. Some of the most notable of these buildings have been recognized as New York City Landmarks and others are included in recognized Historic Districts. Throughout this richly illustrated lecture This talk will introduce the necessary features that define all synagogues and the special features, including changing architectural styles and building configurations that are quintessentially New York.